Look to the Cross

Pastor's Blog

Apr 13

It’s Palm Sunday. More and more over the years I come to truly appreciate this day and what it means. It says in Luke 9:51 that Jesus set His eyes on Jerusalem, knowing this was the place He would lay down His life for humanity. As I prepared for today, two things had been weighing heavy on my heart during this past week: 1) Jesus went into Jerusalem. His mission was at hand and He didn’t back down knowing all it would cost Him. 2) Our reponse as people towards our Creator, both as someone who doesn’t follow Jesus and one who would say they do.

It was still dark at 4:30am this morning, but I was wide awake and there was no use staying under the covers. Pulling them aside I got up and made my way to my chair in my living room, turned on the lamp beside it, adjusted my eyes and got into the Word. Going through the Bible in a year has been so rich and I find myself appreciating reading it like never before in my life. I turned the pages from II Samuel to the Gospel accounts of the triumphal entry and soaked for a bit in those to get my heart and mind ready for the teaching today.

As I was going over the sermon, the coffee was really good and my heart was full. Losing track of time, I looked up at the clock sitting above my couch and saw it was well past time to get dressed and out the door. Not the best day to have an annoying time with my tie not cooperating with me. I still made it out on time and made my way to the Community Center, graced by all green lights.

I got to spend some time talking with Weston, who is the usual employee at the Community Center opening things up for us. He’s got a wonderful heart to serve. As I walked from the entrance into the auditorium to the side doors, I pleaded the blood of Jesus over the room and building, praying and proclaim the goodness of God over our time this morning.

As the volunteer team and leaders arrived, we all got right to it. No time to spare today as we set up both auditorium, children’s room, as well as the picnic area at the park. Everyone was so gracious, on point, and diligent and we got everything done with time to spare. This team is amazing. I can’t say I’ve worked with a more dedicated team that has a true heart to serve God. The prayer time was marked by a few testimonies that went beyond encouraging us, it built faith in us.

As we entered praise and worship, Jesus was the center of everything. I could hear the emotion in the voices singing, the claps and praise for our great King, and looking at photos and seeing people wipe tears from their eyes shows the magnitude of who Jesus is to the people of Cornerstone. It was a beautiful time together and I am grateful for the past several weeks in worship. It seems the congregation have poured their heart out to God in this time like we haven’t experienced before.

The title of the sermon today was “Look to the Cross”. On this Palm Sunday we looked at two contrasting statements between the Pharisees and Jesus. The former believe Israel has gone after Jesus, while Jesus laments on how they have missed His visitation. I wanted to present what we can we learn about salvation and discipleship from these passages and others, looking to the cross to bring us to a place of surrender to God in all of our life. You can listen to the sermon here.

As we finished service with communion and I prayed over and blessed everyone there, it was a hustle and bustle to tear everything down and get to the park. We did it in record time, perhaps hungry stomachs played a part? As we all made our way out to the picnic area, final touches on food prep and presentation were being made. Ana and the team outdid themselves again with the food and set up, there is a gift in this that Ana has. Arcelia took a moment to welcome everyone, honor volunteers, and pray over the food and time together.

The rest of the day was one of the needed relaxing times with friends and family. One of the biggest highlights of the day was Marco and Marissa announcing their pregnancy to everyone. The reactions were priceless and touching, true happiness leaping out of people. After that you could hear the murmors of different converstions happening, and as I was retreating into my introverted self, I took a moment to appreciate what we’ve built with God here. It may be small, but it is mighty and strong. We are truly blessed.